As a novice language learner I’ve avoided ANYTHING that will discourage me. I found out pretty early that I quit if I indulge in anything that isn’t enjoyable. For me, producing the language is the most difficult thing and therefore it’s not enjoyable for me at this stage (around 18 months of learning inconsistently).
I’ve already quit spending time with Spanish a few times for long periods, the first time was because I booked a Skype lesson and failed spectacularly in trying to produce anything, I wasn’t expecting much, but it was way worse than I thought it was going to be. The other times have been when I’ve attempted to listen to something that is massively above my level and couldn’t pick out anything, it’s very demoralising.
I feel like I now know what to avoid at this stage in order to remain on task, and trying to produce the language is one of those things at the moment. I know I’ll have/want to at some point, but until I have enough to defend myself with, I don’t think it’s the way forward for me just yet. You can talk about balance etc but if it’s so unenjoyable that it makes you want to quit I don’t think it’s something I personally should be doing, even after x number of months. If it means I’ll spend 3 years on my comprehension without attempting to speak then so be it, I’m not going to lose any sleep over it.
It’s not like I’m not improving, the more I understand, the more I feel like I will be able to produce eventually. I do wonder how to say things every now and then, I might say a sentence in my head and check if it’s right, I’ve also started to unconsciously think of the alternative in Spanish for small phrases as I’m talking or thinking in English. I see this as my brain learning to accept the new language as something it’s going to need.
I’ve listened to Steve talk about how if he goes to a country after a long period of extensive input it won’t take him long to develop his speaking, and I feel like that might be true, even if you’ve barely spoken. I know I’m in a better place now than I was when I attempted to speak, perhaps I could muster a few sentences now and be happy about that, but to be honest I won’t be happy until I feel that I won’t be a massive burden on the person I’m attempting to speak with.
Again, I realise that no matter when I to attempt to speak, I won’t be good at it, but I want to at least be able to understand most of what the other person is saying, otherwise my attempts to speak will just be speaking “at” them rather than “with” them. This is my own personal preference, I’m sure there are plenty of learners who are quite happy to go at someone with a few phrases and little comprehension, but that’s not my personality, We’re all different, so being told when you should attempt to speak isn’t a one size fits all situation in my opinion, especially if it’s something that will discourage the learner at that stage in their learning.
It might be that I learn a second language to a good level, then attempt to learn a third language and I think that speaking early is the best thing to do, thing is, I don’t have the experience of successfully completing the task of learning another language yet. Someone can tell me what the best thing to do is, but I have the feeling that it’s something you’ll figure out for yourself through personal experience. Obviously it’s beneficial to take advice on board, but maybe it’s up to the learner themselves to figure out what advice to adopt at that particular stage in their learning, and I’m sure their methods will evolve and change with time.